A Sheffield house fire that killed three generations of the same family was most probably caused by a faulty charger, police have said.

A police officers at the scene of the fatal fire earlier this month. Credit: ITV Calendar

South Yorkshire Police said in a statement: "Following a joint investigation, South Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue have found that the most probable cause of the fatal house fire in Wake Road, Nether Edge, Sheffield, was an electrical fault involving a faulty charging device.

"However, the investigation continues on behalf of the coroner, and a full inquest into the deaths of the three children and two women will take place at a future date."

A police officer has suffered a minor injury during a three-hour armed stand-off with a man brandishing an air weapon in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

Police said a man in his early 20s was arrested after the weapon was discharged a number of times near Barnsley town centre. A spokesman said officers were called to an address in Cutty Lane at about 10.30pm yesterday.

Police said: "The firearm was discharged on a number of occasions while the man was contained on nearby School Street, with one officer sustaining a minor hand injury.

"Trained negotiators arrived at the scene and, just after 1.30am today, the man was arrested with nobody else injured."

South Yorkshire Police used fabricated evidence at the height of the miners' strike, according to a BBC documentary due to be broadcast tonight.

An Inside Out programme documentary has uncovered what appears to be evidence of collusion among the police force to change statements after the arrest of 95 miners during the so-called "Battle of Orgreave" in 1984. Former Solicitor General Vera Baird said:

You can’t get statements in the way they have been done here - by police officers from different forces involved in different arrests - and find such a degree of similarity between those statements without there being some degree of collusion.

John Mann MP is expected to make a call for an inquiry later today during the debate on the Hillsborough stadium disaster.

South Yorkshire Police officers are searching farmland on the Greek island of Kos close to where Sheffield toddler Ben Needham went missing 21 years ago. Ben's grandfather, Eddie, is assisting the search.

Ben's grandfather Eddie with police at the scene of the toddler's disappearance in Kos. Credit: ITV Yorkshire